Emperor's Retreat

Emperor's Retreat
General information
Location	Gallo Mountains, Naboo
Builder(s)	Loam Redge
Chronological and political information
Affiliation	Galactic Empire

"Greetings citizen. What brings you to this exclusive retreat at which you probably have no legitimate business?"

―Imperial pilot stationed at the Emperor's Retreat

The Emperor's Retreat was Emperor Palpatine's private sanctuary on his homeworld Naboo. West of the city of Moenia, the retreat was a luxurious marble edifice nestled in the Naboo hills, overlooking a lake. Palpatine attended his retreat with much of his court, including his Sith apprentice Darth Vader, Head Chamberlain Kaja Or'Zee, Grand Inquisitor Ja'ce Yiaso, Chief Inquisitor and head of security Loam Redge, Procurator of Justice Hethrir, and many others among the Empire's Dark Side Adepts and military. Under Redge's watch, the facility's security included a perimeter of guard towers, several All Terrain Scout Transports and All Terrain Armored Transports, and many stormtroopers and other soldiers, including storm commandos and dark troopers.

Loam Redge oversaw construction of the site; upon the retreat's establishment, the Rebel Alliance practically disappeared from Naboo and Palpatine had little trouble with them. However, this changed by 1 ABY, when a number of incidents occurred near the retreat, including an assassination attempt on Moff Grayed Wintozzen, a counterfeit operation, and an Imperial captain being shot down in his shuttle. Palpatine reacted by creating a demonstration of the Empire's force, but problems still continued, when a traitor to the Empire started a campaign of sabotage that was only ended with his death.

Description

"Enjoy your stay at our beloved Emperor's Retreat, Sir!"

―Naboo Space Station's communication officer

Emperor Palpatine's retreat was located on his homeworld Naboo. It had been built out of a surprising affection of the Emperor for his ancestral homeworld. Palpatine visited the retreat when he wished to meditate and contemplate the future of the Empire. The Emperor also held summits with personnel from the highest levels of the Galactic Empire there, and met with some of his most powerful advisors.

Palpatine's retreat and shuttle.

The Emperor's Retreat was a heavily fortified complex located west of the city of Moenia. The structure sat among the hills of Naboo, overlooking a tranquil lake. Leading to the retreat was a long and wide road, large enough to accommodate the Empire's All Terrain Armored Transports. High walls and guard towers surrounded the facility, and security patrols kept watch outside. Banners depicting the Imperial Crest insignia specifically utilized by the Emperor's Royal Guard were also adorned throughout various towers. The area was protected by a sophisticated security system designed by the Imperial Security Bureau that combined an extensive network of holocameras, audio pickups, and scanners. Palpatine's personal shuttle was granted a landing pad to remain docked while the Emperor was there, with pilots standing by.

The retreat itself was a multi-story structure, styled with green-domed roofs built in the typical Naboo baroque architecture. A wide stone concourse lined the backside of the building, with a balcony overlooking the lake. The retreat's front was outfitted with a veranda. The retreat's interior was decorated luxuriously. The walls were made of a mottled pink and tan marble, while the floors of its many hallways were covered with thick, gold-lined maroon carpeting. Computer terminals were scattered throughout the facility. Palpatine's inner sanctum was accessible by elevator, the entrance to which was guarded constantly by the Emperor's Royal Guards. The antechamber to his room was festooned with maroon-and-gold banners and lit with cylindrical gold lamps suspended from the ceiling. Within, Palpatine held audience from his dais.

Occupants

Although he did not leave permanently at the Retreat, the principal inhabitant was Palpatine, Dark Lord of the Sith and Emperor of the Galactic Empire. While there, he was typically attended by a large collection of courtiers, hangers-on, Army and Navy officers, and high-level bureaucrats begging for advantages, positions or just a bit of the Emperor's attention. Commanding from a dais in his sanctum, Palpatine held audience with those who were granted permission to see him. Access to the retreat, and ultimately to Palpatine, was controlled by the Emperor's Head Chamberlain, Kaja Or'Zee. Those who wished to see Palpatine had to prove themselves worthy of an audience with him. Or'Zee attended to Palpatine, and saw that the business of the retreat ran smoothly. Along with Palpatine, his Sith apprentice Darth Vader had his own chambers in the retreat. Vader saw to those who the Emperor had no personal use for, but could still be useful to the Empire.

Emperor Palpatine at his private retreat.

Officials of the Empire's highest ranks and those close to Palpatine took up residence at the retreat as well. Many high-level members of the Inquisitorius could be found within its walls, including Grand Inquisitor Ja'ce Yiaso, Chief Inquisitor Loam Redge, Inquisitor Fa'Zoll, and Inquisitor Vrke. Another member of the Empire's Dark Side Adepts that visited the retreat was Lord Hethrir, Imperial Procurator of Justice. Several ranking members of the Imperial Military were sometimes stationed at the retreat, including the Chiss Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo, Colonel Maximilian Veers, Wurson Harro, Lieutenant Velso, Major Barret Herand, and Lieutenant Allard Lissara. Officers as low as the rank of major were assigned their own offices.

Security for the site was charged to Loam Redge. The retreat was heavily guarded. A full stormtrooper battalion was garrisoned at the retreat at all times, along with armor units from the Imperial Army. Every stormtrooper at the retreat, including storm commandos, snipers, and even dark troopers, was kept on high alert. Palpatine's sanctum was guarded by two Royal Guards at the elevator to the sanctum, whose job was to prevent assassins from getting in or the Emperor from being disturbed, while two more served the Emperor from aside his dais. Darth Vader had an escort of two stormtrooper riflemen outside his own chambers. The entire facility was protected by a patrol of All Terrain Scout Transports and the more heavy-duty All Terrain Armored Transports, and had an air patrol of TIE/Advanced starfighters. Aside from the Core Worlds, Naboo was the most heavily guarded planet in the galaxy.

The Emperor's Retreat, like many installations in the Empire, was filled with MSE-6 mouse droids; among the diminutive droids' duties was handling the retreat's housecleaning. RA-7 protocol droids could be found on the grounds of the retreat as well.

History

"At last! The plans for the Emperor's Retreat! Princess Leia will be glad to see these."

―Nura Tinall

When Palpatine elected to build a private retreat, he chose his homeworld of Naboo, not because he felt any loyalty to the planet, but because his world's landscape—and the location of the retreat in particular—made for a soothing view. Palpatine assigned construction of the facility to Inquisitor Loam Redge. The Emperor faced little trouble on Naboo after the retreat's establishment, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic's presence on the planet made itself practically invisible to the Empire.

The Emperor's Retreat, cliff side.

However, the year 1 ABY saw a good deal of Rebel activity in the retreat's vicinity. Palpatine and his court took up residence in the retreat. That year, Governor Grayed Wintozzen, Moff of a system near Naboo, visited the retreat to meet with other officials. A local Rebel group plotted to hire an assassin to murder Wintozzen, but after overhearing one of their conversations the Empire, with the help of a visiting Imperial loyalist, was able to take them out first, and the assassin and all conspirators were killed. Kaja Or'Zee wrote a letter of recommendation for the Empire's new ally, promising to put in a good word with the Emperor himself. The Imperials at the retreat saw many more victories over local Rebel movements that year. Chief Inquisitor Loam Redge had a group of Rebel sympathizers hauled in for questioning. Lord Hethrir found a counterfeiter in league with the Rebels, and had him, his Rebel contact, and even the contact's father killed.

The Rebels made trouble of their own, though. On approach to the retreat, Captain Dolmen was shot down in his shuttle, and Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo had to send out a party to escort him to safety. Thrawn, as he was known, had the shuttle's transponder retrieved, and the Empire's analyst Geg Winthazen was able to use it to find the Rebels' weapon site. On Thrawn's orders, the Rebel installation was wiped out. Maximilian Veers was in charge of cleaning up after Thrawn, eliminating any survivors of the destroyed cell. After finding a shipment of guns that had been stolen off the shuttle, Veers had the mastermind of the attacks, a Twi'lek named Borvo, killed, sending AT-ATs to his base to finish the job. The plans for the retreat fell into the Rebel's hands that year as well. Disguised as the poetry of a Rebel contact named Nura Tinall, the plans were delivered to Ebenn Q3 Baobab of Naboo. Baobab hired an intermediary in Moenia to pass the plans to Tinall, under the guise of returning her poetry, and Tinall in turn intended to deliver them to Rebel leader Leia Organa.

One of the retreat's many guard towers.

Desiring to make a point of the Empire's commitment to destroying the Rebellion, Palpatine hired a band of mercenaries to attack the summer home of Kylantha, Queen of Naboo, in the guise of Rebels. After meeting with Kylantha at the retreat, the Emperor ordered the mock-Rebels crushed as a demonstration of what it meant to defy the Empire and Queen, then had his message delivered directly to Naboo's Parliament. The Emperor's Hand Mara Jade later visited the retreat to pass off information to Vader; the Dark Lord was busy investigating the connection between Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the pilot who destroyed the Death Star, Luke Skywalker, a quest he would continue to be consumed with. At the retreat, Vader also met with an agent of the Empire, Finn Darktrin, after the latter failed to retrieve a data holocron containing a list of high ranking Rebel sympathizers.

The Empire's problems did not abate after the Emperor's demonstration. Palpatine suspected Kylantha was harboring a Rebel general; an investigation was launched that proved the Emperor correct, and the man, Jacen Nire, was located and killed. Meanwhile, Kaja Or'Zee launched an investigation into Rebel infiltration of the retreat. The facility's guard towers had been entered without authorization, an AT-ST had been found with a jamming device on it, and even the landing gear of the Emperor's shuttle had been tampered with. The culprit was eventually fingered as Major Barret Herand, and the major and his associates were killed for their treason. After sending a fake message from the retreat, supposedly from Herand calling for extraction, the Imperials were able to take out Herand's Rebel handlers as well.

Behind the scenes

The Emperor's Retreat first appeared as a location in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts, prior to its closure on December 15, 2011.

In the game, the Emperor's Retreat served as the starting point for numerous quests dedicated to Imperial-aligned players. Many of the characters mentioned in this article were non-player characters (NPCs) who assigned such quests. The most iconic NPCs, including Palpatine, Vader, Thrawn, Veers, and Hethrir, gave a number of interconnected quests, collectively termed the "Imperial Theme Park." In its original version, the "Imperial Theme Park" consisted of different quests with poor game mechanics, all of them with endpoints randomly-generated close to the Retreat. An NPC named Wurson Harro appeared in the retreat as well; his sole purpose was to reset the questline. The "Imperial Theme Park" was completely revamped upon the release of the "Chapter 6.12" update, on September 13, 2007. The questgiver NPCs remained the same but the story changed and the quest gameplay was extensively modernized. Other NPC of note present at the Emperor's Retreat were the Inquisitors. These NPCs were Imperial "pilot trainers" who provided space missions to pilots who had joined the Imperial Inquisition squadron. These Inquisitors were added to the game with the release of the expansion pack Jump to Lightspeed on October 27, 2004.

The Champions of the Force installment of Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game shows a rather different rendition of the retreat than Galaxies. It is likely Galaxies' simplified rendition is a matter of game mechanics.

Appearances

• Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
• Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (First appearance)
• Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed
• Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures

Sources

An early concept for the Emperor's Retreat on Naboo

• "Who's Who in Star Wars Galaxies" — Star Wars Insider 65
• Naboo on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
• From Pencil to Pixel: The Art of Star Wars Galaxies
• Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• "Gamescape" — Star Wars Insider 69
• Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided Quick Reference Guide
• Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed: Prima Official Game Guide
• Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience: Prima Official Game Guide
• Star Wars Galaxies: Planet Tour on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Guide: Prima Official Game Guide
• Friday Feature – Serving the Empire on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game — Champions of the Force (Card: Emperor's Retreat) (backup link)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Atlas
• Friday Feature – Where are they? Famous Characters in Star Wars Galaxies on the official Star Wars Galaxies website (content now obsolete; backup link)
• Star Wars Galaxies Memory Book
• Star Wars: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook
• Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook
• Nexus of Power

External links

• Emperor's Retreat on the SWG Wiki